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Writing Questions
Over the months a lot of people have asked me questions about my own writing experiences, especially since I've since I've started writing my second novel Cyana. I've often done writing tips in the past, giving advice on various topics of the process - from creating fantasy races to writing child characters. However, as useful as those tips are, there is no substitute for sharing some of the personal experiences of the writing process. While everyone is going to have a different answer and different reaction to these areas, knowing someone's answer to these questions humanizes the process quite a bit. I'm going to try and bring up a good mix of questions that I know I can answer - from the typical questions that everyone seems to ask, to some of the more... unique and less thought-of questions that I think would be more helpful. What are common traps for new writers? You know that piece of advice that says "read and read often"? While I don't think that that's a bad idea, I don't think it should be left at that. One piece of advice that I'd like to add to that is "read bad things too." Personally, examining bad storytelling has taught me a lot more than good storytelling ever could. Think of a well-functioning story like a working clock. All of the pieces are functional and everything comes together to work. In this circumstance, it's a lot harder for a newcomer to tell how that clock works, how each piece does what it's supposed to, etc. However, if you come to a bad story, or a dysfunctional clock, it becomes easier to see what doesn't work, and more specifically why it doesn't work. There's a bit of a yin and yang to reading and analyzing other people's works. Especially that often neglected part of the yin-yang symbol - the white circle in the black space and the black circle in the white space. One of the most useful skills you can ever attain is finding the good in bad storytelling, and finding the bad in good storytelling. Some books, shows, etc have good ideas that are buried below crap or wasted potential. Good storytelling can have elements that don't work, or could be substituted for bad elements. Bad cliches can be turned and warped to make them unique and fresh. Besides the (technical) writing skill, what are the most important subskills for a writer to have? As a writer, besides the technical aspects of writing, the most useful skill you can learn is psychology. One of the most important tools of writing is empathy - being able to put yourself in the shoes of another person - and psychology is basically that down to a study. Then I'd have to say history, a subject built upon the actions of people and happenstance - basically the "plot" of the real world. Next comes knowledge in world cultures - ones that exist and ones that have faded to time. This includes both world religions and mythologies. And finally, philosophy. Many works have been built upon philosophical questions about the nature of life and the nature of humanity. What's the hardest stage of the writing process? The one that I am currently doing. All jokes aside, when i come to the stage I dislike the most is probably marketing, followed by editing. Basically, each stage gets harder than the last. I'm not trying to be discouraging, but it's realistic. Prewriting is the most fun and free. The first draft also has plenty of freedom. Then you need to write draft after draft afterwards that becomes increasingly tedious. Do you listen to music when you write, and if so... which kind? Yes. I couldn't imagine writing without listening to music. Most writers will say "listen to stuff without lyrics." However... what I listen to is more-or-less a similar tone or theme to what I'm writing about. If I'm writing about characters going through say... ruins, my playlist will be something like this - The Tomb Raider theme; Viva La Vida ''by Coldplay; ''Pompeii by Bastille; Radioactive ''by Imagine Dragons; and ''What We Lost - Project Zomboid soundtrack. If I'm writing a battle scene, I'd probably be playing Dragonforce, etc. Barring that, I'd play "motivational/pump up music" - something like St. Elmo's Fire or Eye of the Tiger. Some people say that they find the lyrics distracting, but they don't bother me. How do you select the names of your characters? Okay... funny story... I am the shittiest namer in the world. Like, I give Asgore a run for his money when it comes to naming things. For example, Cyana. Her eyes are... get this... cyan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyan. Sally and Timmy were placeholder names that I picked because they were extremely common. They stuck over time, I guess. Molly's name was originally May because "April and May." And I picked the name Talula because someone on a google hangout said that they didn't like that name, which sounded appropriate for the (then) primary villain of the series. Other than that, I tend to have a list of names that I like and reuse over and over again. It's a small list too. Names like Jessica, Erika, Lily, and Serenity for girls. For boys, names like Stephen, Xavier, and Max. So... Zanjero, Haxa, Layr, Telos, etc I came up with using a fantasy word generator. I am terrible with names. If it wasn't incredibly important, a character's name is like the last thing that I'd decide about a character. I mean, I do get specific rules about naming characters - like it's a bad idea to have two characters' names begin with the same letter because it can lead to confusion in newcomers. Even if it's not a fantasy series. S''ally. ''T''immy. ''R''obert. ''L''inda. ''G''umdrops. ''Sh''ane (different starting sound, still counts). ''G''umdrops. ''A''pril. ''M''olly. Etc. Eventually though, yes you do need to start making character names start with the same letter, but try and delay it as much as possible. '''What's the most important part of the story - beginning, middle, or end?' In my opinion, from a storyteller's perspective - the ending. I mean, if you're just trying to make money, the beginning definitely. But if you want to people to have a satisfying feeling about your story after the journey is over, the ending is the most important. It dictates how people remember your story. Also, because a bad ending is able to piss me off way more than a bad middle or a bad beginning. Why do you like writing for kids more than adults? Children are open to more fanciful ideas and high concepts than adults, plain and simple. When you read many children's stories as an adult, for instance - Willy Wonka; Harry Potter; Matilda; you can ask many fridge logic questions. Children are more apt to accept this wild idea for the story that it brings. That being said, the ideas need to be more exciting and more appealing which does give me the chance to exercise more wild creation. Philosophically, which questions and themes are you planning to ask and answer? A... whole lot. I'm at a stage of my life where the biggest questions I've got are very abstract and out there, and can only be answered through art. I've talked a lot about my fears of death and the implications of it. It's definitely not this current story, but death is a touchy one for me. Growing Around actually talks a lot about philosophies of leadership. In the second novel, one thing I know I have to deal with is that... in order for someone to get elected, they basically need to make promises that they can't fulfill, or they'll be beaten by someone who does that. It's almost necessary in the game of politics. I'll be going into the nature of corruption and "doing the wrong thing for the right reasons." I think that that's a very big question for our current era and a lot of people are still trying to figure this out for themselves. People basically deciding whether or not to sacrifice their ethics for their morals. Yes, there's a difference between the two. However, what I'm dealing with now, in Cyana, is prejudice. I think it's fairly obvious that the book is going to be about that. I don't want to say too much, because it's going to be in story-form for a reason, but it allows me to really... explore these ideas. The basic idea isn't that unique or revolutionary - prejudice between the super powered and the non super powered. This has been done in things like Legend of Korra and X-Men. The main difference here is that my super powered casters, casters, must give off dangerous energy every single day for them remain happy and healthy. It's going to be a work about very difficult themes, I'd imagine, and it's going to take several drafts and tens of thousands of words to get it right. But... already it's dealing with themes of internalized messages; radical actions to escape oppression; etc. Cyana is stereotyped as destructive and uncontrollable, for being a caster by non-casters. However, Zanjero, the non-caster is stereotyped as useless and ineffective, for being a non-caster by casters. And some of the casters have their own ideas of other casters - many seeing Cyana (she's exceptionally talented) as a tool for the grand purpose. Do you try to be original? I think the "hunt for originality" is kind of... misguided. What I do, and what I've been doing, and what I'm good at doing, is taking ideas that have been done and well-established and taking them in new directions. Kids ruling a society has been done before - in things like Lord of the Flies, Children of the Corn, The Tribe, Kidsworld, etc. However, it's never been portrayed as a functional society (as far as I know), so I took it in that direction. One of my ideas is to take the over-done cliche of the chosen one, and flip it. Make some hapless kid, "The Chosen One," destined to destroy the world and everyone s/he loves. Trust me when I say that the best stories in the world are not original - they're time tested. The original Star Wars, for example, follows the Hero's Journey - a formula that's used over and over again. Yes, there is a very real thing called "plagiarism" which is a very bad thing that you should not do. I'll probably make a writing tips about how to take inspiration without plagiarism, because it's... kind of complicated. Especially when we talk about things like adaptations. If two people make adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and they both come up with the same imagery, who's really the thief? Some things are "not original" because they work. They become fundamentals and the basic recipe of certain storytelling tropes. What's the most important element of a work? Characters, bar none. Characters are what makes any story in any medium work. They are often what is memorable about them, and what keeps people coming back. If you can master anything, you've got to master character development and design. And one thing you need to keep in mind on the side is that the "world" is a character. For example, Hogwarts is a character in Harry Potter. Murkwood is a character in The Hobbit. This is another writing tips "setting as character" But for now, that's all we have time for. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Category:Miscellaneous